Cancer Rehab Navigation

More and more people are surviving a cancer diagnosis. “What we’re finding as people are living longer with our current cancer treatments, there are more longer-term side effects that are being experienced by these patients that aren’t usually been identified in the first few months after finishing treatment,” said Cancer Rehab Navigator Jenna Zvolensky.
Chemotherapy and radiation will have different effects on the body. “All of them impact endurance and the patient’s ability to get and out of bed and make a meal in their home or take a shower, and at least to chronic pain and other issues as well that impacts a patient’s ability to care for themselves,” said Zvolensky.
Lee Health Cancer Institute Patients have a helping hand in the form of cancer rehab navigators. “As a Cancer rehab navigator, my job is to be present for the patient since the very beginning of their diagnosis to help identify needs that they may have keep them functioning as much as possible throughout their continuum of care and follow them after they’ve even stopped receiving cancer related care,” said Zvolensky.
While nurse navigators focus more on medical-based needs, rehab navigators center on function. “Making sure they can get around their home and take care of themselves. That their mental and emotional needs are being met as well as any dietary needs they may have,” said Zvolensky. “We want people to function and live the best life that they can because they’ve gone through this arduous process they fought, and struggled and scraped by and now they’re finally ready to go forward and live and we want to make sure they’re able to do that.”
You can learn more by searching for cancer on leehealth.org.
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